Chief technology officer John Linwood was relieved of his £287,00-a-year post without a payoff six months ago but his depature could not be revealed until now due to legal reasons.

A BBC spokesperson told the Guardian: "We can confirm that John Linwood is no longer employed by the BBC. His contract was ended in July 2013. He left in July 2013. We confirm he did not receive any payoff."

Linwood was suspended from his post following the costly - and embarrassing - failure of the Digital Media Initiative, which was intended to make the corporation 'tapeless'.

The ambitious plan was abandoned last May just a month into the tenure of new director general Tony Hall.

Hall said at the time: "I saw no reason to allow that to continue which is why I have closed it. I have serious concerns about how we managed this project and the review that has been set up is designed to find out what went wrong and what lessons can be learned."

News of Linwood's exit comes less than a fortnight before witnesses including former BBC director general Mark Thompson will be quizzed about the debacle by MPs at a Public Accounts Committee hearing.

The project's failure will be the subject of a report by the National Audit Office